Hi Guys,
A pen dropped into my defrost vent. in my 09 Lariat. Now I get a tcking sound when I try to increase drivers side temp. I'm lucky enough that I can rid the noise by decreasing drivers side temp and compensating with pass side temp increase. My fear is major surgery here....unless anyone has an idea???

Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

Oh man, that's not good. The pen fell down and is jamming your passenger side blend door. I cant' find much online about how to get to it, but everything I'm seeing suggests that it's an 8-10 hour repair for a dealer.

Either yourself or a shop will have to do some surgery here, and it's not going to be a quick thing. I wish I had more technical information, but I don't have the shop manual for this one.

 

Is there anything magnetic on said pen? Get a flexible magnet at the part store and start fishing.
Maybe an insurance claim if major surgery is needed, long shot I know, but it might fly.

 

I was afraid of all of the above...no magnetics on the pen.....I'm thinking of pulling the windshield and going fishing...

 

Try a long piece of vacuum hose taped to end of shop vac.

 

I really hate to be the negative guy here, but it think you would be wasting your time. The ducts aren't straight, and your symptoms indicate that it's wedged in your blend door prohibiting its movement. I think the odds of successfully fishing this thing out are practically nonexistent. I would follow Chad's recommendation and contact your insurance company. If you have comprehensive insurance you should be covered minus your deductible.

Just my thoughts, but it would only add insult to injury removing the windshield and possibly causing a leak for nothing.

 

That sucks! Let us know how this turns out!

 

Thanks Tom......appreciate your advice ...there is a difference between scratching your a** and ripping it all apart....I usually do the latter....I'll keep u guys tuned...im going to check on the insurance too!

 

There is cameras on long fixable sticks and grippers on flex sticks, I would try to find someone with one of those.

 

Does the pen have a pocket clip on it? If so try fishing around for it with a thin piece of wire bent up 180 degrees at the end and maybe you'll get lucky and hook onto it. Good luck….

 

If it were me I would get a small inspection mirror, a small flashlight, and some flexible mechanical fingers and see what you can do. A few bucks and a few hours of your time is probably cheaper than what the dealership would charge you to remove your dash to find the pen.

Just a thought, take if for what it's worth.

 

*Note to self* Keep pens off the dash. Good luck, keep us posted on the recovery

 

 

I had to fish out a McDonalds recipt in mine with a Flexi-grabber (long flexable thing that when you push in on a button on the end it opens up some fingers). But it sounds like the pen is a little deeper on yours.

 

QFT! Agreed, keep anything small enough to fall into defrost vents off dash. Sorry you had to deal with that man but also call around to local shops. There are borescopes out there that you can use (I used them when I worked on F-16's to find when guys dropped screws under seats, etc.) to locate said pen and then using flex grabbers to pull it out.

Something like this that is all inclusive: Item # item-1016, Working Channel Scope On JME Technologies

Heck even amazon has some that plug into a laptop for $16:


Definately alot cheaper than taking to the stealership or putting in a claim to insurance and messing with a deductable or jacking up your rates. Do a google search and shop around and you never know if you will need it again for other mishaps.